🛢Barrels: Scraping the bottom

If you need proof of the remarkable power of the unassuming barrel, look no further than [the Free Dictionary]( which lists no fewer than 64 English idioms: from shooting fish to getting someone over one. Its ubiquity in language is a hint at how important barrel technology (yes, it’s technology) has been to commerce, industry, and daily life in the past few centuries. They literally carry, and also serve as a measurement for, the liquids that drive the global economy—the oil and chemicals that make it run, the cement that serves as its foundation, the whisky and wine that are its finest fruits. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] Barrels August 13, 2018 More fun than a something of monkeys --------------------------------------------------------------- If you need proof of the remarkable power of the unassuming barrel, look no further than [the Free Dictionary]( which lists no fewer than 64 English idioms: from shooting fish to getting someone over one. Its ubiquity in language is a hint at how important barrel technology (yes, it’s technology) has been to commerce, industry, and daily life in the past few centuries. They literally carry, and also serve as a measurement for, the liquids that drive the global economy—the oil and chemicals that make it run, the cement that serves as its foundation, the whisky and wine that are its finest fruits. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( Reuters/Sivaram V By the digits [$3.3 billion:]( 2016 value of Greif Inc., founded as a barrel-making business in Cleveland in 1877 [Â¥100,000:]( Or about $890, the cost of a standard 72-liter “komodaru,” or sake barrel, in Japan [11.8 million:]( Barrels of oil per day that the US Energy Administration expects the nation to produce by next year [Over 99.5 million:]( Barrels of oil the world uses per day in 2018 [$5.3 billion:]( Projected value of global wine barrel sales by 2027 [5 million:]( Barrels of cement required to build the Hoover Dam between 1931 and 1936 [200:]( Number of barrels Jack Daniel’s blends to make whiskey A barrel of trouble --------------------------------------------------------------- Here are some more remarkable digits: Every year in the US, 100 different facilities process 27 million used drums for reuse or scrapping, according to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporters Rick Barrett and Raquel Rutledge. This sounds like it would be good news, but it’s complicated: The Journal Sentinel’s recent [in-depth investigative series “Burned”]( depicts an industry plagued by hazards. Used barrels are supposed to arrive to refurbishing plants empty, but they often contain lingering chemicals. As a result, barrels have spontaneously exploded. Fires have engulfed plants. Plant workers [have suffered]( chemical and heat-related burns. Some have been exposed to [formaldehyde and mercury]( and have lost their sense of smell. Barrels labeled as “non-hazardous” have been found to contain flammable chemicals (including one that was purported to contain “water.”) The list goes on: Regulators inspecting plants operated by the industrial packaging firm Greif found leaking drums and chemicals being [washed down]( floor drains. Some plants have transported and treated hazardous waste without the [required licenses](. Once, when OSHA inspectors came with a court order to investigate a plant, the regulators were [denied entry]( for two hours—leading to allegations that the plant was staging a coverup. But that’s not nearly as bad as when the EPA came to investigate: The visit [made two federal inspectors sick](. Life goals An Indiana couple visited [every Cracker Barrel in the United States]( locations)—it took 30 years. REUTERS/Regis Duvignau Factcheck! What is a barrel of oil? --------------------------------------------------------------- When oil was first discovered at the Drake Well in Titusville, Pennsylvania in 1859, oilmen shoved the black stuff into any container they could find: Fish barrels, molasses barrels, turpentine barrels, beer barrels. Each container was a different size. Over time, the varying size of oil barrels made some customers believe they were getting duped. So, to maintain their credibility, the oilmen decided to standardize the barrel. They settled on a 42 gallon container based on an old English wine measurement called a tierce. By 1872, the 42-gallon barrel became the de facto “barrel” of oil. Today, oil is no longer shipped in barrels but in giant oil tankers. So the term “barrel” functions as a unit. Whenever somebody is talking about “barrels” of oil, they’re not talking about physical barrels, they’re talking about a quantity—42 gallons. Better know a barrel The word “barrel” is also used as a unit for commodities besides oil, and each has its own standardized quantity. Some are measured in volume, others by weight. Each “barrel,” however, is unique. Here’s a guide. A BARREL OF: [Cranberries:]( 5,826 cubic inches [Raisins:]( pounds [Wine (US):]( 126 quarts (31.5 gallons) [Wine (Bordeaux):]( 59 gallons [Butter:]( 224 pounds [Beer (US):]( quarts (36 gallons) [Candles:]( 120 pounds [Cement:]( pounds [Whisky:]( 40 gallons [Liquor (for tax purposes):]( 31 gallons [Limes:]( 32 gallons [Fish, beef, or pork:]( 200 pounds [Anchovies]( 30 pounds [Eels:]( 42 gallons Fun fact! [Kentucky has more barrels of bourbon than people.]( The gang’s all here! --------------------------------------------------------------- Decades before “Despacito” and “The Shape of You” were chart-topping hits, one of the few internationally viral popular songs of the mid-20th century was the effervescent Czech tune English speakers call the “Beer Barrel Polka,” (Otherwise called “Roll out the Barrel!”) In the 1940s and 50s, the tune could be heard in more than 20 countries. Dwight D. Eisenhower loved the song so much he made troops [march to it](. It was covered by [Glenn Miller]( and the [Andrews Sisters]( who helped kickstart a resurgence of polka in the 1950s. It was a signature [Liberace]( song. It made appearances in [Death of a Salesman]( [Hogan’s Heroes]( and Marx Brothers [movies](. It’s still played at [Milwaukee Brewers]( baseball games and is the [victory song]( for the Australia Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks rugby team. Brief history The barrel as punishment --------------------------------------------------------------- [13th Century:]( A coat made from wood, the schandmantel was designed to inflict discomfort on the “[immoral]( revelers, drunks, fruit and wood thieves.” In fitting irony, the barrels were often engraved with resplendent imagery. [16th Century:]( Drunkard’s Cloak In 1551, England began regulating pubs and drunkenness with the introduction of the Ale Houses Act. For the next 200 years, rowdy drunks would be arrested and [forced to wear barrels]( as they walked down local streets. [Early 20th Century:]( Barrel Political cartoonists [loved the bankruptcy barrel]( which was widely used to symbolize poverty and criticize taxation. (Though taxes weren’t always the target. In the 1920s, the cartoon character [Moon Mullins]( often wore a barrel because he blew his money gambling.) [Late 20th Century:]( Costume Back when the Milwaukee Brewers were a [minor league]( team, the club was represented by an [anthropomorphic barrel with a beer tap for a nose](. He disappeared for some time, but he’s now back as a mascot (Wearing the costume in July must be a special kind of punishment?) John Allen Watch this! How they’re made --------------------------------------------------------------- Here’s how a master cooper makes a wooden barrel in the traditional style, in super-satisfying time lapse. Jargon watch The phrase “over a barrel” means to be stuck in a difficult situation at somebody else’s mercy. As the story goes—and the origin is dubious—it may harken back to the days before CPR, when a [drowning victim]( would be hunched face down “over a barrel.” The barrel was then rolled back and forth to expel water from the lungs. List 4 ways to reuse a barrel --------------------------------------------------------------- 1) Jump off Niagara Falls On her 63rd birthday in 1901, the schoolteacher Annie Edson Taylor took a bicycle tire pump and filled a pickle barrel with compressed air. Then she stepped inside with a heart-shaped pillow and floated down the Niagara River. She kind of regretted it: “I would sooner walk up to the mouth of a cannon knowing it was going to blow me to pieces that make another trip over the fall” she said later. 2) Age Scotch Scotch, sherry, Canadian whiskey, and a host of other hooches—with the notable exception of bourbon—are almost always aged in used oak barrels. Often, scotch distillers will disassemble these barrels to make a bigger barrel (a hogshead). For some liquors, barrels can be reused for more than a century. 3) Make Tabasco Sauce The beloved hot sauce is made of a salted mash of peppers aged for three years in old Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey barrels. Then vinegar is added and the sauce is stirred over the course of one month. (Watch [how it’s made]( here.) 4) Build a sauna OK, unless your name is [Diogenes]( you probably don’t have a big enough barrel sitting around to make a sauna. But you can use the design of a barrel to make yourself a highly-efficient steam room. The rounded edges of a barrel-shaped sauna minimize extra cubic space, helping the sauna heat more quickly. [barrel sauna](Costco Canada) This one weird trick Concrete barrels, long used by the French wine industry, are increasingly popular in the US. “Concrete is all about the mouthfeel,” Christophe Baron, a Washington state vignoern, [told]( Seattle Magazine. It has the advantages that wood gives for fermentation, but without adding sweetness or oaky flavors. Giphy Poll What’s your favorite use for barrels? [Click here to vote]( Wine—so relaxingWhisky—relaxing with a kickGoing over Niagara Falls—now that’s a kick The fine print In Friday’s poll about the most underrated [Winnie the Pooh]( character, 36% of you preferred Owl, six percentage points ahead of Roo. Today’s email was written by [Lucas Reilly]( edited by [Whet Moser]( and produced by [Aisha Hassan](. 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